MARGARET MCLEAN: Bulger defense presents secret FBI document

Saturday

Aug 3, 2013 at 12:01 AMAug 3, 2013 at 3:11 AM

What came out in testimony Friday was actually bigger than Whitey taking the stand: we learned that the government destroyed the truth. Whitey will likely be convicted on all counts, yet the underlying current of government wrongdoing cannot be ignored. That’s why this trial is like no other.

Margaret McLean

What came out in testimony Friday was actually bigger than Whitey Bulger taking the stand: we learned that the government destroyed the truth. Whitey will likely be convicted on all counts, yet the underlying current of government wrongdoing cannot be ignored. That’s why this trial is like no other.

Desi Sideropolous was one of the most compelling witnesses of the trial, and her testimony came as a surprise. She worked for the FBI for 62 1/2 years, primarily as the secretary for the special agent in charge of the Boston office. Desi worked as the executive secretary for eighteen FBI bosses.

Her testimony centered on one pivotal paragraph of dictation taken from FBI boss Larry Sarhatt on Nov. 26, 1980: “Consideration should be given to closing him (Bulger) and on making him a target.”

Desi was instructed to mark the document “for eyes only” and lock it in a safe. When Sarhatt retired, he instructed Desi to make sure that Jim Ahearn, the new boss read it. Ahearn read it and told Desi “to destroy it or we’d all get fired.” Desi followed orders and destroyed the document.

Luckily, for the defense and for the concept of truth and justice, Desi obtained the original from another source, and it was produced yesterday for the first time publicly. It could have vanished forever, but Desi happened to be honest. She could no longer suppress the truth.

What were jurors thinking when defense attorney J.W. Carney, Jr. projected that “destroyed document” on the screen? How will they interpret the phrase “making him a target”? Did the FBI want Bulger set up to be killed? Did he know too much? Would the FBI stoop so low?

The legal strategy for the defense is to put the government on trial and expose corruption. All it takes is one holdout for a mistrial, which would be a win for the defense. They didn’t need Whitey when they had Desi.

“This trial is a sham,” Whitey said, when he announced his decision not to testify. “I’m making the choice involuntarily because I feel I’ve been choked off of the opportunity to give an adequate defense… I couldn’t tell the jury I was promised immunity.” Victim Patricia Donahue called him a coward. Albeit short, Whitey gave the speech he had wanted to give all along. He forgot to announce that he wasn’t a rat and didn’t kill women.

The transcript of Marion Hussey, Stephen Flemmi’s common law wife, turned out to be a boost for the defense. Hussey could not come to court; therefore, Carney read her prior testimony to the jury. The defense used it to point the finger at Flemmi for the murder of Deborah Hussey, Marion’s daughter. If Whitey had taken the stand, he would have implicated Flemmi. Marion testified that when her daughter revealed that Flemmi had been sexually abusing her for years, he dragged Deborah out of the house.

Deborah: “Ma I’m not lying.”

Marion: “I believe you.”

She never saw her daughter again.

John Martorano, the hit man who admitted to killing twenty people, returned to the stand dressed in a tailored suit. The defense called him to further implicate and vilify Flemmi for the murder of Debra Davis. Remember, Flemmi was a star government witness. Martorano testified about a conversation he had with Flemmi when he noticed Davis, Flemmi’s girlfriend, wasn’t around anymore. When Martorano asked where she was, Flemmi told him he accidentally strangled her.

Carney asked, “Is it possible to accidentally strangle someone?”

The defense made promises to jurors in opening statements that the FBI and the Department of Justice had a mandate to do everything possible to go after the mafia; there was tremendous pressure on agents to develop top-echelon informants. The defense called ASAC Robert Fitzpatrick to support their theory of widespread government corruption in the Boston FBI Office in the 1980s. He recommended Bulger be closed as an informant and he was not. He also wanted to protect FBI informant Brian Halloran, but met with resistance by superiors in Washington and Halloran was murdered. Fitzpatrick claimed he was retaliated against for complaining about the widespread corruption. Assistant U.S. attorney Brian Kelly nailed Fitzpatrick during cross-examination due to exaggerations in his book, calling him “a bold-faced liar.” This weakened the impact of Fitzpatrick’s testimony.

The defense called several agents who testified about a culture of paranoia in the Boston Office due to corrupt agent John Connolly snooping around in files that were supposed to be off limits. The defense advanced the theory that Whitey’s 700 page informant file was fabricated to make it look like Whitey was a useful informant. The legal strategy: create reasonable doubt.

On Monday, the summer of Whitey will draw to a close as both parties deliver closing arguments. Overall, the adversarial system, that democratic concept behind the trial by jury, came through. A slice of the truth was exposed. Thank you, Desi.